


The Pegasus Knight's Reprise

by Nullify



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Friendship, Unrequited Love, vague mentions of other characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 12:16:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1688054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nullify/pseuds/Nullify
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He was the prophet that warned her of the darkness.</p>
<p>She was her own light - the light to shatter the night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pegasus Knight's Reprise

The air was crisp, cold. Cordelia rubbed a thumb across the goose bumps forming on her arms and inhaled deeply, ignoring the frigidness that seeped in and burned her throat. After a minute of closing her eyes and hearing her blood roar in her ears, she parted her lips and exhaled, blankly staring at the white smoke before it dissolved into the air.  
That vacant stare persisted for an eternity, its owner never aware of its existence. Eventually, she rubbed her eyes and sluggishly pulled herself up from her cot, reaching for the silver armor and weapon that had won her many battles.

'But not the battle for his heart...' 

Cordelia smiled wryly to herself, midway through slipping on and clipping her boots. Her eyes were too dry to produce any visible forms of sadness - perhaps due in part to the cold weather and overuse.

An icy breeze blew through her tent, causing the pegasus knight to wince and hope for the end of the winter to arrive soon. With the breeze came a familiar voice, calling out to her from beyond the tent flaps.

"Cordelia?"

She didn't trust herself to speak.

"Are you there, Cordelia?"

A clipped silence then fell upon the two. Birds chirped brightly outside, shaking their plumage of freshly fallen snow. A chop echoed faintly throughout the camp, the product of Frederick's daily routine wood cleaving. This early in the morning, only Cordelia, the figure outside Cordelia's tent were usually awake while the rest of the camp slept away the constant fatigue of war. Occasionally, Libra could be found cognizant in his tent, praying to Naga for a safe outcome for the proximate battle while Tharja sometimes lurked about, collecting ingredients for her colorful array of curses and hexes.

"...Yes, Robin?" Cordelia finally responded, lips and tongue moving laboriously.

"May I come in?" The tactician wasted no time, as usual.

Cordelia was half armored, although all of her underclothes and under armor were in their necessary places, obscuring any bits she thought only to be revealed to a lover.

A lover.

The pegasus knight's voice cracked as she said, "Come in." She knew Robin had been pacing outside, even though the tactician's footsteps were silent. It was a skill gained by carefully studying the swiftest of the Shepherds.

"Your patience is reserved only for strategy and battle." Cordelia murmured, too low for the figure entering to hear, the corners of her lips quirking up. She stared at her friend directly in the eye, slightly amused by the substantial height gap between them, Cordelia being the taller of the two.

The bemused twinkle in her eyes gave her away, as Robin promptly narrowed his eyes and quipped, "I do hope the weather is slightly warmer up there. Hot air rises to great heights, after all."

Cordelia smiled and put her hands up in a placating gesture, then quickly returned to putting on her armor. "Peace, friend," She said, "What have you come here for?"

Robin let out a quick puff of air through his noise, which Cordelia recognized as stifled laughter, before the air turned stale and the gravity of some unknown matter darkened his eyes.

He stayed silent for a while, lips shut into a tight line, simply standing there and watching her, arms crossed. The only sounds that reached Cordelia's ears were her heartbeat and the light clinking of her armor as she finished clipping the rest of it on. She refused to meet his eye, as behind those coal black pupils there was heavy knowledge that made her wince, made her quietly beg that he would laugh this aura away and tell her about some new strategies that she needed to know about.

Of course, her prayer wasn't answered. They never were.

"You love Chrom."

Cordelia stopped breathing. Her eyes snapped up to meet Robin's, searching for any clue that this was a cruel joke and he would say 'just kidding'. But he didn't - he didn't and it tore her to pieces. Robin knew about her pathetic infatuation with Chrom. He knew that she loved a married man, and it had made her feel wretched for two years. He knew.

"Yes." The pegasus knight sighed deeply, her hands ceasing their adjustment of her armor and swinging dejectedly at her sides. The taste of being caught was acrid on her tongue.

"You've loved him since before he was married."

"Yes."

"You've made yourself miserable over him, knowing full well that there is nothing you can do now."

"...Yes." Her voice cracked once more, and she was surprised at her own incredible sincerity.

Robin paused briefly. He said, "What are you going to do about it, Cordelia?"

She blinked, taken aback by the question. Cordelia's armored hands balled themselves up into fists, and she stuttered, "B-but you just said there was nothing to do!"

Robin stared back at her indifferently. "I said that you knew there was nothing to do. ...And what is knowing but a perception of the truth? Your perception."

Cordelia's fists shook, her voice hushed with a strange sort of rage, "That. Makes. No. Sense." She took a step towards Robin. "What do you want me to do, Robin? Travel back in time and keep myself from falling in love with him?" And then another. "Should I go over now and seduce him right under his wife's nose?" And another. "Should I beg and plead him to leave his wife for me when I know very well that he doesn't love me - that I am not worthy of him?" And barreled forward until she menacingly towered over him - until she could actually see the individual specks of color in his eyes.

Robin's gaze softened from one of indifference to one not of pity, but affection. He whispered, "...And therein lies the problem." 

Cordelia opened her mouth, but not a sound crawled out of her throat. Robin's calm, warm breath fanned over her at their proximity, and the heat that radiated from him did much so soothe her goose bumps. It reminded Cordelia of the warmth she had felt with her sisters in the Ylissean pegasus knight squad. Some nights, when it became cold, the knights not on watch would converge in one tent and pile on top of one another, sharing stories of valor, arm wrestling, and basking in their companionship. Cordelia suddenly felt tired, and all rage left her like a passing specter. 

The pegasus knight leaned forward, closing her eyes and pressing her forehead into the tactician's.

"...Robin," She sighed, "Why all this?"

"The last battle," He said. "and the one before that, and the one before then too. Every single battle since the end of our two year peace. You have been distracted - distanced. Remember how last battle you nearly were killed by a Risen wyvern lord?" Cordelia opened her eyes and almost winced at the mention of it. "If it had not been for Kellam's impenetrable armor and his uncanny ability to be invisible even to the enemy, your head would have been lopped off by an axe. I've never seen a case of a broken heart be fatal, after all, look at Inigo and Virion, but I'd rather not put that theory to the test on a dear friend."

Robin continued, "Do not believe for one second that I did not notice how you were staring wistfully at Chrom before the axe fell."

Cordelia sighed again, "I know. I know..." She shifted against his forehead, grimacing at how sticky it was becoming due to her nervous sweating. Luckily, Robin didn't seem to be notice, or if he did, he didn't seem to mind. She sighed, as she always did, and stared down at his boots. They shared in the silence that followed, Cordelia vaguely aware of the faint chopping still resounding in the distance. How long had they been there?

The pegasus knight took a step back, peeling her forehead off of his and ignoring the cold that circled her once more. A resolute look crossed her gaze, and she stared directly into her friend's eyes.

"Robin, what should I do?"

"No man can determine your worth or every aspect of your life. Instill value upon yourself."

"...And then I will determine the best course of action on my own."

The tactician smiled and opened his arms as Cordelia moved forward to embrace him. It was slightly uncomfortable for the both of them, and it was most evident when their armor clinked against one another, but neither seemed to care, nor did the chirruping birds outside.

"Thank you, dear friend," Cordelia whispered into his hair, her eyes shining. "Your kindness and wisdom is not lost upon me." They remained in that position for a few moments, until Robin cleared his throat and they released one another. Cordelia saw that his eyes were rimmed red, brimming with tears just as hers were, but she said nothing.

"Go help Frederick with the firewood," Robin said, rubbing his eyes, "He must be wondering what's taking you so long."

"And you?"

"I have to wake up a certain gluttonous buffoon and interrogate him on the whereabouts of half the caravan's food."

"An arduous task indeed." Cordelia smiled brightly, and the two headed towards the tent's exit and into the morning light.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that was a trip. I haven't written a fic in a while, but if I'm truly honest, I haven't written anything aside from things required at school for literal years. I actually like how this came out, though. The ending is a bit corny, but by then I was too tired to care, haha. Maybe one day I'll go back and fix it.
> 
> Please note that Robin and Cordelia's relationship in this fic does not reach romantic grounds at all. It is purely friendship, though if you really want it to be romance, then go ahead knock yourself out.
> 
> Also, I actually used my tactician in this fic. Although his name is Nova, I kept it as Robin in the fic, but I still imagine him as my tactician and he's got the personality. Anyhow, thanks for reading!


End file.
